Network head disputes Democratic politicians’ claims about Trump influence on decision

When news broke that “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was being put out of its misery, the collective left had an unhinged, weeks-long meltdown.

Left-wing social media went ballistic.

There were hilariously sad protests outside the show’s headquarters in New York City.

And a series of Democratic Party politicians decided that the cancellation of a disastrously unfunny late-night political show deserved a federal investigation.

“CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery,” posted Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

“America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”

Sen. Adam Schiff added: “If Paramount and CBS ended ‘The Late Show’ for political reasons, the public deserves to know.

And deserves better.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries remarkably said Colbert spoke “truth to power,” a suggestion so absurd it’s hard to believe it was posted.

And there were plenty more examples. One consistent theme from the embarrassing reaction was the suggestion or outright accusation that CBS canceled “The Late Show” because of Donald Trump and the pending acquisition of CBS and Paramount Studios by David Ellison and Skydance Media.

Except in a new interview, the head of CBS confirmed that all the Democrats were wrong. Yet again.

NEW YORK – JANUARY 9: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and guest Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, during Tuesdays January 10, 2023 show. (Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)

CBS Head Explains Reasoning Behind Colbert Show Move

Now that the merger is officially complete, CBS CEO George Cheeks explained the decision—and spoiler alert: Trump had nothing to do with it.

“The challenge in late night is that the advertising marketplace is in significant secular decline,” Cheeks explained.

“We are huge fans of Colbert, we love the show, unfortunately the economics made it a challenge for us to keep going.”

“I know [Skydance] is going to invest, but they’re going to invest cautiously and wisely, so for me, managing this business is really important for me to double down [in] primetime and sports,” he added.

So the advertising money predominantly funnels to primetime programming and sports broadcasts.

And with the show’s enormous costs, paying Colbert’s exorbitant salary to deliver generical left-wing political sermons and a team of writers to write some of the worst “jokes” in television history, it was losing money.

Some reports suggested as much as $40 million per year. While he wouldn’t confirm an exact number, Cheeks did say losses were “significant,” and in the “tens of millions of dollars.”

“At the end of the day, it just wasn’t sustainable to continue,” Cheeks said.

So once again, Democrats were wrong, because they so badly wanted to blame Donald Trump for something else.

Colbert’s show was canceled because not only was it not making money, it was losing tens of millions of dollars.

Of course it was. It was one of any number of the exact same show; a boring, predictable, one-sided moral lecture from a generic, humorless host who belongs on MSNBC.

Though, ironically, it would be much funnier than anything on “The Late Show” if Democrats did launch a federal investigation to find out their favorite late night show was a disastrous failure.